A lightweight November mist is falling outdoors of Cullum’s Attaboy on the Monday earlier than Thanksgiving. The restaurant is closed, its picket flooring swept clear. The owner-chef sits on a stool on the bar, reflecting.
Christopher Cullum by no means meant to run a enterprise out of this outdated Tobin Hill home. It as soon as belonged to a barber. A barber who referred to as it residence. A barber who ran his barber store two homes down at Cullum’s Attagirl, a self-described “run down hen shack” with an alleged buyer quote on its web site:
“If Olivia Newton and Dolly P. had a lovechild born within the concession stand of an outdated curler rink with free wifi, you’d have Cullum’s Attagirl.”
Two areas in a historic neighborhood reveal rather a lot about Cullum. He’s a personality minimize from a distinct period whose expertise cowl a broad culinary spectrum: fried hen at one joint, caviar tin and blini on the different.
Joint might be not an correct descriptor for Attaboy. Texas Month-to-month calls it “Extra Paris Bistro Than San Antonio Diner.” Cullum calls it a childhood dream. Again when he cleaned the kitchen at The Touchdown, his father’s River Stroll jazz membership, Cullum aspired to cook dinner the proper burger. He was 15. Round 1992, he broke the information to his father, Jim Cullum, the legendary cornetist.
“I need to go into the restaurant enterprise,” the son mentioned.
The daddy took the information nicely. He steered they every write down 14 attainable restaurant names and focus on them the next week.
“Once we met, he mentioned, ‘I do know you labored actually arduous in your record however throw it away,’” the son recalled. “He mentioned, ‘I discovered the title. It’s Attaboy.’”
The eyes shut and the pinnacle tilts again. Reminiscences stream. Attaboy first opened as an Airstream trailer in 2010. An inconceivable sequence of occasions led him to purchase the house of a barber in 2023 and switch it right into a restaurant with a fuller title: Cullum’s Attaboy. The daddy by no means lived to see the Michelin recognition (Bib Gourmand in 2024 and 2025). However he bought to eat his son’s cheeseburger on the trailer.
“There was nothing he loved greater than an Alamo beer and an Attaboy burger,” the chef mentioned.
The San Antonio Report sat down with Cullum to debate a variety of matters, from his begin within the enterprise and journey as a self-taught chef to his James Beard Award nomination and the expansion of the native culinary scene.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
You bought your begin within the restaurant business at The Touchdown within the late Nineteen Eighties. What did you do and the way did your profession develop?
I began at age 11, working each weekend, washing dishes by hand. I did that for about 5 years. Finally we expanded the kitchen and bought an actual dishwasher. After which I used to be in hog heaven.
And also you labored your approach up?
Sure, I did each place attainable. I used to be a bunch. I ran the numbers and did the books. I served as a waiter for a few years. I grew to become an assistant supervisor after which the supervisor.
When did you start to cook dinner at The Touchdown?
Round 15. I used to be like, ‘That is superior.’ I fell in love and I knew what I needed to do. I needed to make hamburgers and I needed to do them very nicely. I needed to do every thing — grind the meat, make the bread and simply knock it out of the park.
What was the eating scene like in San Antonio while you had been rising up? The place did you and your loved ones exit to eat?
Nicely, man, I simply had the best childhood. My father would ship me on dates to La Louisiane (a French restaurant). He’d name forward and say, ‘Let him have a glass of wine. They’ll have one glass of champagne or two. It’s tremendous.’ And I’m 13 years outdated.
You had been 13? Did your father drop you off at La Louisiane?
I don’t truly keep in mind being dropped off. However I’m certain it was my mom or father dropping me off. Who is aware of?
The place else did you dine in these days?
We’d go to Chez Ardid and the unique Paesanos and naturally to Mi Tierra and pa would play with the mariachis. It was virtually a nightly date. That was a fuel.
In contrast to a number of cooks right here, you might be homegrown. You’ve seen San Antonio evolve right into a culinary vacation spot. What has that been like for you?
Within the 80s and 90s, we had two actually nice eating places: La Louisiane and Paesanos and possibly Naples. It was these three and simply scrumptious Mexican meals all over the place. There wasn’t a lot pushing the boundary culinary-wise till they opened The Monterey (an imaginative retro diner).
What was particular about The Monterey?
Charlie Biedenharn, Chad Carey and Quealy Watson opened this superior venture with some off-the-wall cooking in Southtown round 2010. The Monterey gave us nice wine and adventures in meals to the place meals grew to become enjoyable. And it simply broke boundaries. It was past fusion. And it launched us to some new wines and completely different types of service. Out of Monterey, Sizzling Pleasure was born, which led to 1,000,000 different superb eating places that exist right now.
San Antonio is now residence to 3 one star Michelin eating places. What was a turning level within the metropolis’s culinary growth?
Turning into a UNESCO Artistic Metropolis of Gastronomy (in 2017) was the primary actually large deal. That was an enormous win for San Antonio. I keep in mind rising up and listening to, ‘Oh, Austin is healthier.’ Or ‘Dallas is healthier.’ I felt the other. I used to be like, ‘You don’t know what you’re speaking about.’ This made me upset. And that’s why Attaboy exists. It’s highlighting all of the superb eating places that we did have to indicate everybody that San Antonio has been superb all alongside. I’m slowly shedding that chip on my shoulder as a result of now we’re a metropolis of gastronomy and now we have Michelin recognition and everybody sees us now.
How did Attaboy begin?
Initially it was a 1977 Airstream land yacht that I discovered on Craigslist. I pulled it from Houston. I didn’t know what I used to be doing. The doorways had been flying open. The home windows had been flapping. I needed to pull over and determine it out. I took it to the South Aspect and constructed probably the most modest kitchen you would ever construct.
5 months after you opened the brick-and-mortar, Texas Month-to-month gave Cullum’s Attaboy a glowing evaluation. How did it really feel and what did that piece do for enterprise?
Opening Attaboy was the most important win of my life. However being acknowledged by Texas Month-to-month was an enormous deal. It did impression enterprise. We bought busy on the weekends. I want my father had been round to rejoice with me.
You had been a James Beard Award finalist for Finest Chef: Texas in 2024. What did that recognition do for Attaboy?
It helped. You’re by no means taking pictures for James Beard or Michelin. However when somebody acknowledges you for it, that’s particular and it feels actually nice. However that doesn’t change something for me personally. I’m gonna mud. I’m gonna clear. I’m gonna scrub. As a result of if you happen to love the work, you’re keen to do all of it. I like all the issues that include it. I’ve grown up right here. I’ve by no means left. I’m in love with San Antonio and every thing it’s given me. And I simply need to make it proud.
